The Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), Pl Punia, on Tuesday visited Noida’s Kanawani village following media reports of Jatavs being intimidated by members of the Gujjar community and facing insouciance from district officials and police. Coming down heavily on the district administration, Punia ordered officials to ensure the safety of Jatavs. This was the second visit by a senior member of NCSC in the village in the last 48 hours. On Sunday, NCSC Secretary JN Chamber had pulled up the district administration for failing to protect the Dalits (Jatavs) and had ordered penal action against the Gujjars.
Punia, on his visit to the village, interacted with the Jatav families and enquired after the situation in the village. Senior administrative officials and police faced flak when women from the Jatav community came out in large numbers and bemoaned the genocide that spawned fear. They reproached the callous approach of the police, which fanned a spark into a great fire instigating the Gujjars to go on a rampage. “After the clash, Gujjars traipsed into
Jatav colonies cautioning them to leave the village. They searched our homes, flogged our men and humiliated our women,” said Manish, an 18-year-old Jatav, adding the Gujjar shenanigans happened right under the noses of the policemen.Punia also visited the site where the firing had taken place and went to inspect Sidharth Public School razed by Gujjars. Punia raised serious doubts over police investigation conjecturing Rahul, the grandson of the village mukhiya, might have been killed by the headman’s bodyguard. Yielding to pressure from Gujjars, police, he said, could be trumping up charges against the Jatavs. Demanding action against those who had vandalised the Jatav school, he said the district administration ought to construct another school on the same site on the Government exchequer and action be initiated against the vandals.